Fire Escapes and Friendships
by likegallows
Summary: "So it's safe to assume you're the reason she's stalking around like she's just sucked a bag of lemons." "She called me today." "And?" Or where Percy and Nico burn the injustice that is the Hades Cabin. A number of chapters through Sally's point of view about her son returned from Tartarus. Tempting the Fates verse.
1. One

Sally's eyes opened and for the first few beats of a heart she only saw the vague darkness of her ceiling. The sliver of light from an orangish streetlight came in through the slightest of cracks where the blackout curtains parted. Her heart wasn't hammering in her chest so it wasn't a nightmare that woke her though god knew she'd had plenty of those when Percy had gone missing. Paul let out a quiet snore interrupted by a brief smacking of his lips and a murmur of nothing coherent. No, it wasn't that either. A few seconds later it came again, a clanging noise and the thing that had pulled her from sleep.

Fire escape. Her mind still half wrapped in sleep conjured the connection.

A few months ago a noise on the fire escape would have set her reaching under her bed for the wooden baseball bat tucked just in reach. But it wasn't the first time she had heard the rust worn metal creak under the weight of someone sneaking in.

Someone needs to tell them they have this whole thing backwards. But Sally was hardly going to be the one to tell her son he should be trying to sneak away from his mother instead of attempting to sneak someone in. Oh, she'd much rather he sneak someone in. At least under your roof you know that they're safe. Not like when they were out in the world, or at Camp, or gods knew where. The clanging pulled her thoughts back into focus as did the whine of the hinges of the window in the room down the hall being lifted just a little bit wider. Slipping out of bed, Sally reached for her robe from the back of the door and slipped it around her frame. Each step she took down the hall was soft and she tip toed skipping the boards that groaned the most under any weight and applauded herself.

Go on, Sally. Still got it… They could learn a thing or two from you.

The distance between their rooms was not great. The apartment was bigger than the one that she and Percy had shared with her first husband but it was only a handful of careful steps before she was stood outside her son's room. The door was the slightest bit ajar with the gentle light of a lamp spilling into the dark of the hallway. Maybe it was wrong to infringe on her son's privacy like this but stood in the hallway, her breath quiet and just outside of the view of the doorway she listened to the sound of Nico setting his boots down on the floor (he'd stopped wearing them when creeping up the fire escape since a half dressed bat-wielding frazzle haired Sally with sleep in her eye ready to fight a monster come to take her son from her probably had a special place in the scariest-things-a-demigod-could-see category).

"Couldn't sleep?" Percy's voice came softly and from the silence that followed she imagined the other teenager shaking his head in answer. "Yeah, me either."

Sally had been surprised when she received the call from Chiron to come pick Percy up. Getting expelled and suspended from schools wasn't exactly new territory for the mother but being called because her child who had been raised at camp in highly questionable ways, ones that Sally herself honestly didn't agree with, could use a 'break' from camp life was a new curveball. It had taken Sally a whole minute to pick her chin up off of the floor and ask Chiron to repeat himself while it took every ounce of restraint inside of her to not start shouting at the camp leader because what could her son have possibly done that merited a call home to come get him? Sally had never been allowed inside the walls of camp but when she pulled up both Percy and Nico were stood there with only the latter looking guilty. Apparently the night before the two had broken into Dionysus' wine cellar and decided to redecorate the son of Hades' cabin. Said redecorating included tearing the thing down from the inside, breaking up a number of coffin like items of furniture, and dragging their destruction onto the beach during the night and starting camp's largest bonfire to date. No one had been hurt but the two had been found passed out sleeping side by side with an empty bottle either side of them as the embers smouldered.

Percy had taken the brunt of the blame because he insisted that he had broken into the wine cellar and it was his idea. Nico had just been along for the ride, not able to convince her son that it wasn't a good idea. And after everything they'd been through, well, he'd joined in. But mostly he'd just been there, or so her son had said. When she'd arrived to pick him up from Camp Half Blood only one of the two had looked sheepish and guilty, with the son of Hades a foot taller than she remembered, dark hair fallen across his face. He couldn't meet her eyes. Percy, on the other hand, could. He didn't look sorry and he didn't bother trying to pretend that he was. Not to Chiron. Not to Sally. Whatever shred of childhood Percy had managed to keep after the first war, it was gone after the second. He wasn't sorry but he took responsibility. She mourned the loss of his childhood, but she couldn't say that she wasn't proud of the sort of man he'd become. He'd hugged the son of Hades goodbye and told him he'd be back soon, Chiron couldn't banish him forever and, besides, there was always New Rome. Nico insisted he'd visit.

"Can I crash here tonight? Seymour snores."

"That the only reason?"

Sally could practically hear the son of Hades rolling his eyes. "My cabin looks like a bomb went off… or two children of the big three. No one's allowed in except for the renovation crew." Percy chuckled and she dared to move her head just a sliver until she could glimpse into her son's bedroom. Her son was sat on the floor, playstation controller forgotten to the side with his avatar for fortnite standing ready on the screen also forgotten. His long legs were sprawled out in front of him and he was leaning against his bed. Nico had dropped down to the spot next to him, further away from Sally at an angle, his arm resting against her son's bed. One leg was tucked under him, the other was comfortably crooked over Percy's legs. From the sliver of doorway she could see the tail end of the scar across his face peeking out from under the dark mop of hair. "Speaking of renovations…"

"Don't," Percy groaned and threw his head back against the bed.

"So it's safe to assume you're the reason she's stalking around like she's just sucked a bag of lemons."

"She called me today."

She should have headed back to her room but Sally was nothing if not curious. There were enough portions of her son's life that she knew next to nothing about. Things the camp had taught him. Things that she was sure he skipped over or vaguely danced around to save her from worrying. Or to save you feeling like a bad mother for letting your child go. They'd both known there was no other choice. He would have wound up dead. That didn't mean she agreed with any of the things that Chiron had taught him. Besides, maybe, how to stay alive. And the breakup with the daughter of Athena had been one of those conversations where it had happened but the details were scarce. Sally hadn't wanted to push. But as she held her robe tight around her she made a conscious to decision to listen to this line of thought and then she'd join Paul back in bed.

"And?"

"She just wanted to chew my ear off. You know, for ruining all her hard work and design for your cabin. And then for suggesting to Chiron that she shouldn't be allowed to help with the refurbishment."

Nico chuckled and his head fell forward, forehead to the side of her son's face. Nico had always been standoffish, keeping at least half an arm's length between himself and everyone else. She'd caught herself wondering at least once if maybe the son of Hades was afraid that his touch might suck the life from those who dared get too close like some extension of his black sword. Watching him lean into her son, Percy didn't pull away. If that fear still existed, subconscious or otherwise, it didn't include Percy. He lifted his hand and patted the other's dark curls in a touch so tender it made Sally's breath hitch for a moment. "And you're surprised that she's pissed?"

"I'm surprised that anyone let her go through with it in the first place. He saw those plans. Your dad's the god of the Underworld not the god of a goth BDSM dungeon. What the fuck was all that shit inside? I'm glad we burned it."

Nico laughed, his shoulders shaking as he leaned into her son. Percy didn't move to push him away. Instead, he slipped his arm around the other as casually as if a one armed embrace was something that was normal. For all you know, it is. They had been gone for a long time, together for a part of it. Maybe there had been something there. Or maybe there was something happening now. Either way, her son chuckled and shook his head. "What!? It's true! It was hideous. You can't tell me that you honestly think that Annabeth thought it was a good idea. Your father's cabin compared to the rest was a fucking joke. No way I was letting her try to one up herself by making it worse."

"She wouldn't have!"

"She would."

"You're probably right."

There was a brief pause as Nico sat back up, his face a few inches from Percy's who turned to face him as well. Nico was still leaning against the bed, his head resting against his arm. "Why do you think she did it?" The tone of the question implied that he already knew the answer but maybe the other teen was trying to determine if Percy knew. Sally couldn't imagine herself.

"As smart as she is, she's just as petty." Nico exhaled and dropped his eyes for a moment. Whatever the meaning, Sally thought it seemed to be the one that he had meant. "Hey, it's fine. I'd rather wound her pride a little then let her try it again. She can be pissed at me, but she shouldn't take it out on you."

"Thank you… for all of it. For her and for taking the blame. You could have just told them it was my id-"

"Don't."

"But-"

"You don't have to thank me. What I did was nothing, not like what you did." Percy's voice was soft as his hand reached up and he touched the other boy's cheek. For a second she thought she saw the other boy's eyes drop as if briefly considering his lips before they snapped back up to meet Percy's gaze. A fraction of a second. If Sally was a less perceptive woman she might not have noticed.

"You would have done the same." The words were barely a whisper. If it hadn't been the dead of night she wouldn't have caught them.

"I know." Percy answered.

Silence stretched on for a moment and neither one of them moved. The sound of Sally's heart beating in her chest felt magnified, louder than the background noise of the city that never quieted, even at 2am. She stood there watching them, her hand leaning against the wall and watched as two teenagers who had been through more than she could possibly imagine shared a moment. Neither of them moved. Neither of them said anything. Percy's hand had creeped back up to the side of Nico's face but the son of Hades didn't move.

They're going to kiss. She thought and like some perverse version of the Little Mermaid she found herself holding her own breath for her son and wishing him forward. But after a minute neither moved and the moment passed. Nico leaned back and her son did the same.

"I bet we wouldn't have even been in trouble if Annabeth hadn't complained. Okay, some trouble. But like cleaning out the stables and polishing swords sort of trouble. Girls are the worst." Percy complained, filling the silence that had maybe stretched a little too long. He straightened up, his back cracking as he glanced at the television. He reached for his controller and turned the console off. "Are you sure Will isn't going to mind you staying here?" Percy asked, dropping the name in as he turned the television off.

Smooth, Percy. Real smooth. You and Paul are about as subtle as bricks through a window . She might not have recognised the name Will but she didn't need things spelled out to read what was in front of her. Nico huffed out a breath, and blew a few dark curls out of his face before they fell and settled back where they'd come. "Probably but…"

"But what?"

Subtle. Honestly, do you even share any genes with your father? Poseidon had been as natural as they'd come. Maybe that's what not having a suitable male role model growing up does to a boy. Honestly, if that's all he missed out on, I'd say that overall things were okay.

"But he doesn't have to know."

"And if he finds out?"

"Then that's his problem. I don't see why he should get upset if I come stay with you. My cabin's going to take at least a few weeks to fix."

"-that bad, huh?"

Nico flashed a wicked grin. "I might have carried on after you left." That made Percy snort. "Besides, there's things that he doesn't understand. I mean he wants to and he keeps trying to but the more he chases me around and it's sweet, sure, but the more it makes my skin itch. He's just so-" Nico struggled for a moment before finding the word, " clingy ."

"I mean, he is your boyfriend."

Nico's shoulders fell and he groaned. " Boys are the worst."

"Yeah, they are."

Sally stayed for a few seconds longer before turning and heading back to her room. When she slipped back into bed, Paul's breathing stuttered for only a second but he mumbled something incomprehensible and turned away. As much as she wished for her son to be happy, there were things that a mother couldn't teach. There were things that he'd just have to learn for himself. Seeing what was in front of him and untangling his own mess of feelings, well, that was one of them.


	2. Two

The midnight visits didn't stop and more than a time or two Sally tiptoed down the hallway to catch a glimpse of her son and the child of Hades in his room. Percy had stopped closing the door all the way and she was able to glimpse the two boys in the midst of conversations or video games or watching movies and sometimes curling up to sleep. Sally had wondered a time or two if spying on her son made her a terrible parent but the scale was sort of skewed given his paternal side. Moms are supposed to check on their kids… Sally had reasoned but it had quickly been followed by, but moms are also supposed to kick out midnight suitors climbing in their son's window even if said son is too blind to realize the other is also a teenage boy and most definitely interested. It was quickly dismissed for the other laundry list of don'ts that Sally was probably guilty of after not kicking said boy out. Like letting Percy sleep with a sword under the pillow. Or keep a pet monster. Or fight monsters for that matter. Or go on quests. Or leave him at home with an abusive drunk. Or send him to that stupid-fucking-camp. Sally had done her best with what she had every time.

But there must have been small miracles in the world because Percy had turned out alright… and he was oblivious to the way the other teenager looked at him. Sally had already had the talk with her son, Percy red-tinged and unable to meet her eyes while they discussed the in's and out's of sex, consent and safety. He'd stammered for her to stop and scrambled the room the second it was over. Because they weren't there yet but oh how quickly that can change , she had mused cackling. So she probably wasn't supposed to get a bit of a kick out of the whole thing but she was liberal and there was nothing wrong with what happened between two consenting adults… or young adults in this case. But we didn't exactly coverthese sorts of bases… can't even imagine how that talk is going to go. But then she'd wondered about Nico and in the absence of a mortal mother she couldn't exactly picture the king of the Underworld sitting down with his eldest son, whipping out some sort of oblong fruit or vegetable and demonstrating the correct application of a condom. Did he even know? Sally was entirely unclear on the matter.

Yup. There's not exactly a What to Expect When You're Expecting demigod baby edition. I'm sure I've broken every golden rule any of those parental-fad books has been written in the past twenty years. And there's absolutely no guidance on raising a teenage demigod. Like a lot of things over the years her attitude had been well fuck it because what else was she supposed to do? There wasn't exactly a social network where demigod parents could share tips, tricks, and bewares. On second thought, maybe she should start one. She laughed as the keys stuck in the door; it always jammed when it was humid, the wood swelling and protesting as she tried to shimmy it open. It might have been a funny thought but the kick to her gut had Sally rubbing her hand over her swollen belly and cooing to the small child that they would be inside soon. "If you think you're baking, mommy is roasting," she mumbled to her bump as the door finally opened.

Sally toed her shoes off by the door and hung her keys. The brownstone was quiet except for music floating from her son's room. Paul had something-or-other at the high school meaning he wouldn't be home for a few hours yet. It had been fairly quiet for a Friday afternoon and with her ankles thick as tree trunks and feet swollen, her angel of a boss (gods bless that woman) had agreed that Sally could leave early leaving the afternoon free for her to spend time with Percy. Paul and Sally had been so relieved when he'd returned, when he'd come back after the war, that they'd gotten a little carried away with the celebratory drinks and one thing led to another and that safe sex talk she'd had with her son? Hadn't been even a glimmer of a thought in their mind. Then he'd been gone, off to save the son of Hades though Percy was still broken and battered himself. A few weeks later and surprise! It hadn't been planned but Sally was excited nonetheless. Still, she could only imagine how it looked when he'd returned home a few months ago and his mother was pregnant by her new husband. Like we were planning for worst-case-scenario. It wasn't something he would think, Sally hoped, but she still looked forward to having the afternoon to spend together just the two of them. Like old times.Except with a little money to actually do things.

Sally knew that he missed camp. That her son missed his friends. That as excited as he was to find out that he was going to be a big brother there were also times when the blank look in his eyes left her unsure what to say and that broke her heart. They needed some time. Mother and son. Sally set her purse and phone down on the table not expecting to be home long. After she had popped her head into Percy's room to see where he'd like to go for dinner, her treat, she'd quickly change from her work clothes to something more comfortable and they'd be on their way. Huh, that's new.The song drifting along the hallway wasn't one that she recognised but Percy also didn't make a habit of listening to music.

In hindsight, that should have been her first clue.

The second was that for the first time since he'd been back, his bedroom door was closed. And he hadn't taken to closing the door to his room since he'd been back (something about being trapped and small spaces and darkness; she'd wanted to press but the look in his eyes had asked her not to so she didn't).

Sally gave a quick rap on the back of the door before turning the handle and pushing the door to her son's room open.

"Percy, baby, I'm-" the sentence was half out of her lips as she stepped into his bedroom only to pause mid-stride somewhere half-in-half-out. With her fingers still curled around the doorknob she watched in amusement as the son of Hades flew across the room like he'd had wings. If Percy had been oblivious to Nico's feelings towards him or towards his feelings towards Nico, well, one of them had clearly taken the plunge if the way the son of Hades had been straddling her son half a second ago was any indication. Their clothes were on thankfully because she didn't need an eye full of that but if their flushed faces and kiss bruised lips were any indication they'd been going at it for awhile.

"Oh, Nico. I didn't realise you were here." Sally greeted with a smile without so much as letting a flicker of surprise flick across her face. She might as well have walked in on the two of them playing video games or binging her emergency supply of pregnancy ben and jerry's in the fridge.

Okay, so maybe not the ice cream. There might be some blood shed but honestly, Sal, you should have taken Gave and his deadbeat poker buddies. No one has a poker face like this lady.

"S-Sally… I-I…" Nico stuttered as the blush crept up his neck towards his hairline save for the silver of the scar running down his face. He'd probably pulled his wavy locks into a messy knot at the back of his head so it didn't interfere with their lip-locking. Unfortunately, it only accentuated his growing embarrassment. The poor boy didn't know where to look or how to hold himself, pressed against the wall.

"Hey mom." Percy offered unhelpfully smiling as he stayed sprawled out on the bed with one arm under his head looking like the cat who caught the canary, while the canary, a very flustered son of Hades, shot a glare Sally would have sworn could have smote a lesser being's soul straight to the fields of punishment. Good, Percy needs someone who's going to keep him in check. Sally nearly choked on her own laughter because she might not be the world's greatest mom but she also knew that a single misstep would set things askew for the two teenagers. And Lord knows they could both use a little fucking light in their lives.

"My boss let me go early so I was thinking about grabbing a bite to eat for dinner. What do you say the two of you pick someplace, huh? Give me ten minutes to change out of my work clothes and we can head out." Sally began to leave, pulling the door behind her but popped her head in adding before she went, "my treat! Okay, ten minutes. Don't keep a pregnant lady waiting." Sally smiled again and shut the door behind her.

She didn't miss the way the son of Hades immediately groaned in embarrassment or how her son laughed. It had been too long since she'd heard anything ring as free or joyous from him, even if it was in the fuck my mom cockblocked me sort of way. For a moment, Sally paused outside the door leaning against it, silent, because if she wasn't above checking in on them in the middle of the night she wasn't above eavesdropping on them after finding her son with his arms firmly pinned over his head and the son of Hades straddling him.

"She didn't say anything!" Nico whisper-shouted and sounded almost hopeful.

"She didn't."

"And she invited me to come to dinner with you…"

That hope clearly gave way to shock.

"She did."

"Do you think she sa-"

And circled right back around hope once more. Poor boy.

"Saw which part? You pinning my hands over my head while we were dry-"

"-Percy!" He groaned.

"Or you flying across the room?"

"She surprised me!"

"You might have cat like reflexes, Nico, but even cats don't move that fast unless they're guilty. People who weren't doing what we were doing would not have looked nearly as horrified as you did."

"Oh my gods," Nico sighed and from the muffled tone, Sally presumed it was from behind his hands.

Way to let a boy down, Perce.

Sally couldn't stay any longer otherwise she would have burst out laughing so just as Estelle starting kicking again, she fled to the comfort of the room she shared with her second husband so she could change. When it was safe she closed the door to her en-suit and with extra walls between them she let out a relieved laugh. They would be okay. Both of them. They'd be happy and they'd heal and they'd figure it out, however impossible it was. Because Percy had laughed and he'd smiled and he hadn't done that in she couldn't remember how long. And it was because of Nico. Sally allowed herself another moment to feel relief before her mind wandered.

It hasn't been going on for long. I would have noticed one of these nights. It must be a new thing. She selected a change of clothes from her closet after her umpteenth bathroom break of the day ( maternity pants be damned, jeggings are a more acceptable and less ugly alternative ) before beginning what was the increasingly laborious effort of changing.

Looks like I'll be having that chat a lot sooner than I thought. But that would happen later. In the meantime, she had two teenage boys to entertain and a hungry baby to feed. Those were her priorities and she was sticking to them. Comfier clothes on, a brush through her hair, and blessed slip on stretchy ballet flats ( praise whatever divine being created these ) and Sally made her way back to the front door. Nico was fidgeting and looking absolutely anywhere that wasn't directly at Sally or her son, while Percy was bemusedly watching Nico fail to watch either of them. When her son met her eyes he gave her a smile and a half shrug as if to say oops without pretending to feel sorry. Again, not too sure that's the best way to raise a kid but hey we have honesty and I'll take that any day. Like most things in her life, she was making it up as she went along.

"Come on, boys. I'm starving. Where are we headed?" She asked as she herded them out the door, grabbing her purse and locking up on the way.

**\- break -**

Percy had filled the silence well enough for Nico until the other teenager got over the horror of being walked in by his whatever-Percy-was's mother. Not that the other had ever been particularly outspoken but while her son had been missing, before Nico had stopped appearing, they formed a sort of bond in their weekly dinners together comforting one another about her son missing. She had known it then, though he'd been younger ( however in the hell that works ) then and perhaps not terribly conscious or accepting of his own feelings. Sally had never said anything, but took comfort that while Chiron and the others weren't terribly surprised or bothered that they'd lost another camper- yes, another, because it wasn't a terribly uncommon thing in their world- Nico wouldn't stop looking and neither would Sally.

A few happy meals and milkshakes later and Hades son must have realised that there was no trap, Sally was not waiting for him to say or do the wrong thing. As embarrassing as it might have been to have the mother of your whatever-Percy-was-to-him walk in on you, it was fairly PG 13. Not that Sally would have banished Nico if there had been less clothes involved (she probably wouldn't have been able to hold in the laughter at that point, gods knew she deserved sainthood for the level of chill-poker-face she maintained throughout the whole thing). Although Sally had planned on some time bonding with Percy just the two of them- no offense to Paul but soon there would be hardly any time for just her and her first born with the baby on the way- having Nico along was just as good.

Percy hardly stopped smiling or laughing the whole time. Whatever ghosts lingered, they were safely tucked away in their graves for the time being. It was the closest to pre-Juno Percy and while she knew that that part of her son was gone, grown up and more banged up from what he'd been through and what he'd seen (just like everyone else grows up only a million times more harsh) there was a part of her heart that healed that little bit more getting to see it one more time.

"I can't believe you'd never dunked your fries in your milkshake before." The demigod was gobsmacked that Nico had never tried such a combination as they entered the brownstone once more. Sally locked the door behind them as they kicked off their shoes and hung up their coats.

"But why ?" He asked and from the wide eyed expression he was still no less mortified than when he'd seen Sally remove the lid to her chocolate milkshake and dunk one extra-salted fry into the no-one-could-actually-assume-it-was-really-frozen-dairy drink.

"Why not?" Sally laughed as she hung up her purse. "If you think that's disgusting, you don't want to hear about any of the cravings I had while I was pregnant with this one," She elbowed Percy. "Fries in milkshake are nothing." From Nico's expression it was clear that he wasn't entirely convinced.

"I think you're going to have to explain." Percy goaded as he hopped up and down on one foot and then the next, removing his shoes and dropping them by the front door. It wasn't laid out tidy, side by side like Nico's battered doc martens but it had only taken eighteen-and-a-half years to get to this stage.

The hallway light was already on signalling that Paul was already home. Sally had text him while they were out so he wouldn't worry about where the two of them had got off to if they were back a little late- not something she would worry about so much if the whole could-be-attacked-and-eaten-by-monsters or abducted-by-a-god ( again! ) weren't probably causes for a missing mother and child in their world. Family members going missing two times in a year seemed a little far-fetched for odds but then her son had been part of two prophecies and more quests to stop the world from ending in the past seven years so it was more likely occurrence than getting struck by lightning.

Sally arched an eyebrow and flashed a smile. "Let's see," she mused. "Sweet tarts on pepperoni pizza bagels… the blue ones, of course. That was a frequent favourite. And I remember on one particularly ravenous weekend sitting there with a jar of sour pickles, grape jelly, hostess cupcakes and ranch dressing. I'll leave that to your imaginations."

Percy snorted and Nico laughed. "No way."

They stood in the hallway for another second and she let herself watch Percy watch Nico, the way her son leaned into him and how the other didn't quite pull him closer but his body made room for him, that's the only way she could think to word it to herself. Nico, who always appeared so closed and so cautious, never with a smile on his face, looked up from under dark lashes and dark hair and catching Percy looking at him offered a questioning grin which grew the longer Percy held his gaze.

Conveniently, their slow pace had them stood outside of Percy's bedroom. The door was still ajar from when they'd left earlier and her son didn't hesitate to reach inside and switch the overhead light on (the lamp stayed on because he didn't like it dark, not fully, not even after half a year). Nico hesitated and looked from the room to Percy and then to Sally with growing panic before back to Percy.

That's your cue, Sally.

"Well, boys, it was lovely getting to spend the evening with you. I'm exhausted, though. Think I'm going to head to bed for the night." Lifting her arm, Sally didn't have to say a thing for her son to wrap his arms around her and kiss her cheek with a 'night mom' and a 'love you'. When Percy pulled back she kept her arms opened and motioned with one hand. For a moment Nico looked perplexed but slowly took a step forward and wrapped his arms gingerly around her, cautious of her growing bump but he melted like butter against her and she gave a gentle rub to his back. She thought maybe she was the start of a blush creeping up his cheeks as he pulled back. "You boys have fun, okay? Just do me a favour and keep it down. Sleep deprived Sally Blofis is not an experience either of you want in the morning."

"We'll be quiet. Night mom."

Sally flashed them another smile and turned down the hallway but she only needed to make it a few steps for her son's bedroom door to shut behind her with the two of them disappeared inside. For a moment she debated continuing to check on Paul and see how his day was but gave into her curiosity. Retracing her steps like she wasn't smuggling a small melon under her top and cankles with significantly less mobility than her pre-baby-body was near impossible but it was New York and the general background noise covered most of her missteps. Maybe letting Nico stay the night without saying anything was another example of bad parenting, but Sally knew that she'd rather be a bad but supportive parent than someone her son and Nico wouldn't come and talk to when they needed.

"Here, these should fit you." She heard Percy ask from the other side of the door but after a handful of seconds there was no response. For a moment, Sally thought it might have been too muffled or too quiet for her to pick up until she heard her son continue. "What?"

"Your mom's letting me stay?"

"Yeah."

"But she… she saw us. She saw me on top of you and… she hasn't said anything." There was some mix of wonder and confusion in total turmoil and it wasn't hard to understand why. He lost his mother as a boy. His father is a god. His sister died. Camp lost him. Who knows who raised him but I've got money that says it was mostly himself. Sally knew that look, could recognise it in others just as she'd seen it in the mirror. There was a creak, Percy getting up from his bed as he walked over to the other boy.

"My mom wants us to be happy, Nico, the both of us."

"Us." The word sounded both sweet and foreign from his lips, half whispered and maybe a little hopeful.

"Yeah. She cares about you, Nico. And when Sally Blofis cares about you, you're part of the family."

"I kept you from her." The words were half choked, like the boy was struggling just to say them.

"You didn't."

"If she found out that I knew you were at Camp Jupiter and I didn't tell her-"

"You did what you had to do to keep everyone safe. To keep me safe. She'd understand why you couldn't tell her. And afterward… you found the doors of death as penance. Hephaestus' forge, Nico, you fell into Tartarus for me. You're the reason that I made it back to her. She would understand and even if she didn't, Nico, she would forgive you."

Sally's heart hammered in her chest and her hand lifted to her mouth to stop a gasp with the threatening tug of her lungs. Nico said nothing and she leaned against the door blinking back tears. Where grief should have resided there was only gratitude.

"So when I say you're part of this family, no matter what, I mean it. My mom wants you to be happy." Sally's heart melted just as much as it sang. She might not be getting any mother of the year trophies or parenting prizes but her son knew that she loved him and that more than anything else in the world she wished for his happiness. Whatever anyone else said, her boy had grown up into the kind of man she'd always known he could be.

A few quiet sniffles from the other side of the door and a half laugh- the creaky kind, the one that she had learned was Nico's earlier that day- sounded and it ended in a sigh. "Yeah, okay." Nico accepted Percy's comfort.

"Go on, take these. They might be a little big but they should fit you." Came Percy's voice as he presumably offered Nico something to sleep in once more.

"I don't think I'm going to need them."

Sally's eyes widened and she kept her hand over her mouth where it'd kept her grin hidden only moments after it had hid the wall of emotions that had hit her at hearing that Nico had found Percy before she had known. Whatever the reason- probably something to do with his godly side… I swear to god I am going to ring Poseidon's neck if he knew. - Percy was here. He was here and he was okay. And the tone of Nico's voice had the very pregnant mother waddle/sneaking down the corridor and shutting the door to the bedroom behind her in a hushed hurry.

Paul grinned up from where he lay in bed, papers spread across his lap with the television on in the background.

"Hey, how was dinner?"

"Good. The boys wanted McDonald's."

Before she could share that she'd found Percy and Nico together, there was a thump against the wall only faint and while her husband hadn't noticed, he reached for the remote to turn down the volume or maybe to turn the television off altogether. Sally swore she had never even in her pre-pregnancy days moved as quickly as she did then. Wrestling the remote she cranked up the volume and laughed at Paul's expression.

"I don't think anything on the news is that interesting."

"Percy has company." Give Paul some obscure text and being the scholar he was, he could ascertain ten different meanings from what wasn't said as well as he could what was said. "I think it's better if we sleep with the TV on."

But interpersonally, anything more subtle than a brick to the side of the face was lost on her husband. Apparently Percy and he had that in common. Paul sat there blinking as if waiting for her to continue with a hint of I-think-she's-off-her-rocker-but-it's-never-a-good-idea-to-say-that-to-a-pregnant-woman look about him. Even with the television on she caught the louder knock of her son's bed against the wall and Paul, who might need glasses but had ears like a hawk, cocked his head and opened his mouth to ask what that was.

Sally fell to the bed laughing so hard tears slipped down the sides of her face, she grabbed the remote and turned the volume up higher. A hundred emotions coursed through her: love, relief, joy, wonder at the baby growing inside her, gratitude. At eighteen years old, an orphaned and unwed mother-to-be, she would never have imagined being where she was now laying in bed next to the love of her life, pregnant with her second child, and pretending she didn't know what was probably happening in her son's room. Through the laughter, she reached over and took Paul's hand and pressed his fingers to her lips.

"I think he's going to be okay."

Paul smiled at Sally and kissed her softly. "How could he not be with you fighting in his corner?" When he pulled back she returned her husband's smile and laced their fingers together. "Now what do you say we turn the TV off and go to bed?"

"Oh trust me," she smirked, "if you want to get any sleep tonight, I think we're going to have to leave it on."

Paul looked at her in question and Sally dissolved into laughter once more.


	3. Three

At seven and a half months pregnant Sally Blofis was irritable. Shocker! Maybe it was the inability to sleep through the night as her daughter pressed on her bladder sometimes giving it was felt like a swift elbow to the organ. Maybe it was the fact that even lying down didn't seem to help with the constant state of swelling to her ankles or feet. And because they were so swollen they itched. And what was worse than an itch? An itch that you couldn't scratch because the swollen beach ball of a belly made it impossible for her to move like a normal person and contorting herself into a shape that might have let her relieve it was entirely impossible. The combination of inability to do such a small thing, the frustration that turned to fury at the neverending itch and her husband snoring away next to her oblivious to the plight of his wife had her in tears.

_ Or that's the hormones _, she thought to herself as she glared darkly at Paul not for the first time and definitely not for the last. But reason lost out to the much louder voice in her head as she had to pee for what felt like the thirteenth time that night.

_ You're not going to sleep any time soon _ , and it was time to accept it. Outside their brownstone the first signs of dawn were crawling over the horizon painting the city in a soft glow. It was the sort of thing Sally might have appreciated if she weren't semi-murderous from lack of sleep. _ If you're not going to sleep you may as well get up. _It took far longer to get out of bed without assistance than she would have liked to admit but it was no small feat so when her feet were cozy inside her slippers- the floor was impossibly cold, always a draft no matter how they covered the windows in plastic or attempted to insulate the place- and she pulled her robe tight around herself, Sally felt like she deserved a round of applause. Or a coffee. Or both.

She sat at the kitchen table, hot cup between her hands and savoured the hot drink of delicious caffeine, even if it was half-caf blasphemy. It wasn't that she was waiting for Paul to get up (the teacher slept like the dead on the weekends and honestly she couldn't blame him) and lord knew that if Percy woke up on this side of noon it would be a frigging miracle. The fact that she sat in the kitchen without the lights on basking in the growing light of the dawn was more because she wanted to hold onto the peace of a certain time of morning before accepting the morning but when she heard a door creak open and the near-silent padding of feet down the hallway Sally knew that it was Nico. The boy might be quiet as a whisper but she had ears like a bat and nerves still set quick-trigger from raising a demigod son always anticipating the danger that could befall him.

The bathroom flushed and the sink ran just long enough before the whisper of feet made their way down the hall and Nico moved with purpose, likely to retrieve his boots from the front door before he left. Sally smirked to herself hardly scandalised by the fact he was still over nor by the fact that he was trying to make a quick escape. Likely so she _ wouldn't _ think that he had spent the night and whatever sort of questions or lecture a boy raised in the late nineteen twenties presumed would follow.

"Good morning Nico." Sally called from over her mug.

The boy nearly jumped out of her skin and she would have been lying if she denied that she had chuckled to herself. _ Small joys. _

"S-sally!? I didn't- I didn't realise anyone was up." Despite the shadows she could see the way his cheeks practically glowed crimson, flush creeping up his face and burning his ears. Nico's dark waves were semi tame in a small knot high at the back of his head, undercut close to needing a shave once more. The scar that marred the left side of his face stuck out like a single remnant of moonlight where the rest of his face burned with his blush. It made him look like he was frowning; some might have felt sorry for the boy but Sally knew he was lucky to still have his eye and luckier still to have his life. Her son had far more scars than she could easily process when he'd come home (and in truth, she had sobbed where he could not see until she was sick and empty as much in grief as in relief). Each one _ wasn't _ the thing that had killed them in the world of monsters and gods.

"This little one is hell bent on making sure I don't get to sleep for the rest of my pregnancy." Sally said with an affectionate rub of her stomach. Estelle had quieted, momentarily laying off kicking her in the ribs or punching her in the bladder.

Nico stood still, eyes wide.

"Why don't you come sit with me."

"It's not-" he starts and he slinks like a skittish cat making his way closer but not in a direct line, around the shadows like he might fall back into them and disappear at any second. Sally has never actually witnessed him do it but from what Percy has told her she can almost see the way the dusk grips at the demigod like it is calling to him. It's strange; when she had last seen him he had been six maybe seven inches shorter, small for fourteen and now? Now he stands just a few inches taller than Percy, skin still pale but closer to its natural olive and maybe like his grandmother's plants a little extra care and sunshine had done him some good. He pulled up the chair next to her, eyes unable to meet her own as he continued, "it's not what it looks like."

"And what does it look like?" Sally reaches out across the table and takes her hand in his own.

"Like I'm… like something happened and I'm leaving before he wakes up." Nico looks up for the first time then, face questioning and blossoming red once more. Even the allusion to _ that _ must be too much because he doesn't look far from wanting the shadows to swallow him.

_ Put him out of his misery, Sally. _

"It looks more like you were trying to sneak out before Paul and I realised you stayed the night." The teenager says nothing and Sally sets down the cup of coffee and she knows that he is cautious but her maternal instincts are on overdrive and she covers his hand with both of hers. He doesn't meet her eyes but he also doesn't look like he wants to crawl out of his skin either.

_ Baby steps, Sal. _

"Nico, you're welcome to stay. You've always been welcome to stay."

Brown eyes snap up from where they had been boring a hole into the table as they search her face. Sally can practically hear the cogs turning as he wonders if she knows.

"E-even if…" but the thought dies on his lips probably along with his courage. It's not like he's had a steady and present parental figure of the mortal kind in more years than Sally's been on the earth (and honestly, that hurts her head to even attempt to wrap her mind around but that's the gods, isn't it?). It makes sense that he's hesitant and unsure. For him, the world of monsters and gods is _ normal _. He wasn't raised like Percy.

"Yes, even _ if _," and she leaves it intentionally vague.

_ Even if you're sleeping with my son. Or you want to, if you haven't yet. _

Nico looks more bewildered than if his current love-interests mother had flashed him. In other words, he looks absolutely scandalised and she thinks, maybe, a little guilty. It's hard to read him, the distance he puts between himself and people isn't just physical. Sally isn't sure what Percy has done to break down the emotional barrier but she knows from yesterday, from any of the nights sneaking around, that he's burrowed his way in and Nico has _ let _ him. She's glad. They could be good for each other. They could understand things she doesn't think anyone else will. And maybe they're a little young but they could both die tomorrow. They could have both died in the Battle of Manhattan. They could have died eaten by monsters, smote by goldy relatives, or in the second war or the very-nearly third one. The scar tugging down the corner of Nico's mouth reminds her that they could _ live _ and still be dead because not all deaths are physical.

It sends a shiver down her spine and she clings to his hand tighter while the other goes to her belly and she rubs at it as if to calm Estelle. Truly, it's for her own comfort to know that her little one is still safe and sound growing in her womb. Her world will be a unique one and Sally isn't prepared to think about how she, as a mortal, will straddle the line of the divine because there are things she will not be able to see that could hurt her. Percy cannot be there forever.

She takes a shaky breath. "I know that you've been staying over, Nico. I haven't said anything to Percy because it isn't a problem. Whatever you two are or aren't doing doesn't matter. You're important to one another and as far as I'm concerned you're both adults."

The thought clearly isn't one that he's had about himself before because he sits up straight and blinks a few times. "Adults."

"I know, it's fucking scary, isn't it?" Sally laughs and brushes a tear from her eye. "And you're welcome here. Anytime you need somewhere, okay? With Percy. Without Percy. Whether things happen between you or they don't or they dissolved, you have a place here." And because she is a mother, and also because her cup has gotten cold, Sally pushes herself to her feet and dumps her drink in the sink and turns to face him. "Do you want a coffee? Or I have hot chocolate."

"You don't have-"

"Do you want one?" Sally asks again because the whole refusal-don't-be-put-out-on-my-account is a load of polite nonsense she doesn't have the time to entertain in her own home. Arching an eyebrow, she gives Nico an inquisitive look that her son is familiar with and just like it always does, it works. Nico whispers he'll have a hot chocolate so she makes two mugs of steaming milky chocolate goodness and takes her seat across the table once more. Nico is silent, both hands wrapped around it and she thinks to the last time they were sat together in this kitchen. Her son was missing. Annabeth had called, frantic and the younger boy had bolted so quickly that he'd left his bag behind. She had never had a chance to return it to him- Percy was found but gone before she held him. Then he was back but Nico _ wasn't _ and the shell of her son explained why he couldn't stay, why he had to go, how he couldn't live with himself if he didn't at least try to bring his friend back.

"Sally," her name catches her off guard and she looks up and across the table. Nico is taller now, even sitting across from her, but the expression he wears makes him look smaller. Like a child. Like the kid who had climbed in Percy's window on her son's birthday convinced even accepting one slice of blue frosted cake was too much, let alone dinner. (Sally made sure that he'd taken leftovers and three pieces of cake for the road) "There's something I need to tell you."

And she lets him as she sips her hot chocolate.

Because he had found Percy at Camp Jupiter. Because his father had warned him against starting a war. Because he had listened in the first place. Because he had come that night and hadn't been able to tell her. Because he'd run, unable to stand the thought of lying to her. Because her son had been found long before she or Annabeth had any idea. Because maybe she should know that before she offered him her hospitality. And because he had robbed her of Percy a second time, because her son had returned to Tartarus for him when she'd only just gotten him back. Nico breaks down in tears and honestly, Sally cries along with him. They both forget their hot chocolates and Sally might not win any mother of the year contestants for the fuckload of mistakes she has made in raising her oldest but letting Nico stay last night and every other night, leaving it open for the two to figure this whole thing out isn't one of them.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers against her shoulder and Sally holds him tightly, one hand rubbing small circles in the small of his back making a soft shushing noise.

"You gave my son back to me." She whispered. "Maybe not right away, but as soon as you could."

Nico clings to the back of her robe and they stay that way because they're both a mess. Sally kisses the top of his head and when they finally pull back they both laugh because it's ridiculous. All of it. Percy's father. Nico's father. The whole fucking world.

It's ridiculous but they all get to live another day in it.


End file.
